_Echo_

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I'd recommend not taking it in the first place, but if you want it, 1/2 ACC, 3 heal, 1-2 END, and 0-1 dam/rech.

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Thanks. I'm curious, why would you not recommend Siphon Life?

Running around with a DM/Fire Brute has proven a lot of fun for me, and finally gotten me interested in CoV again after a long period on CoH.

Anyway, I just wondered, in your opinions how is it best to slot Siphon Life?

I'm very late, but congratulations all of you!!

Thankyouverymuch!

I've just hit lvl 26 with my Ill/Rad toon and picked up Spetral Terror. I was wondering if there's a generally-agreed optimal slotting for this power? I'm more interested in PvE, if it makes a difference.

I was originally planning to put some recharge reduction in it but the spooky thing is nearly perma anyway.

At the moment I just have 1 SO accuracy slotted but I'm nearly lvl 27 alreayd and wondered if it was worth putting anything else into it.

Thanks for your advice!

I may be wrong, but aren't the Outcasts disgruntled mutants who feel they've been discriminated against? No smoke without fire, and all that...

Aside from Danger Baby, the only people now in Cell Block were the dead and the seriously wounded. She didn't know where that creep Cruise had gotten to. The only sound to be heard were the blaring alarm and the distant sounds of gunfire, laserfire and explosions coming from elsewhere in the prison.

Baby came into a room where the bodies were piled much higher, some prisoners but mostly prison guard and Longbow. Longbow were here now as well, then? The upturned tables and crates described a large gunfight.

It was then Baby heard the cold click of a pistol's hammer from some way behind her. Spinning on her toes, she aimed her revolver in the direction of the noise.

"Lil'un?"

"Planning on shooting me in the back, Earl?"

Earl Watson was a mess, his face was swollen and bloody. His movements were groggy and he probably just regained consciousness a couple of minutes ago. Still he could walk, unlike his unfortunate friends. Earl kept his arms straight, pistol aimed square at Baby's chest.

"How about yah'll surrender now?" the guard broke the silence. "Ah'll put in a good word for yah. If yah give yahself up, ah reckon judge'd be willin' to knock a couple o' months or more off yah sentence. I know you ain't done killed nobody here."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah it's true," Earl chuckled. "You don't have the guts. Now will yah come back to your cell or do I have t'shoot some sense intah you?"

Danger Baby gritted her teeth and growled at Earl. She had the gun pointed at his chest and she wanted to pull the trigger, shoot this ******* dead. She really wanted to see him dead, but just couldn't make her hand pull the trigger. Pull the trigger, every thought in her head urged her finger to obey. Shoot him, let him rot. Burst his chest! Pull the trigger! Pull the trigger!

"Give it up, Cry-Baby!"

She pulled the trigger.

The bullet cannoned through Watson's left knee and he came crashing to the floor.

"Aaargh!" he cried in pain. "You shot my leg!?"

[censored], I missed!! Baby calmed herself and ran over to Earl, her gun trained still on his prone form.

"You stupid [censored]! Arrgh, [censored] that hurts," he wailed. "Yah missed me, y'amatuer!!"

"I'm sorry Earl," Baby said smoothly. "I'll try and be more accurate in future."

She shot three rounds into his chest.

Earl Watson went limp. He didn't make another sound, but blood began to seep out his mouth.

It was much easier the second time, Baby smiled. She took Earl's pistol and ran to catch up with Pistol and the rest.

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You never know, I may use Aiag's shining example as an inspiration and dust off Pax... but I doubt it...


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What, and deprive us of your Thrunging??

It was a fantastic night - grats to all three of you (baby yeah!)

((Okie doke.))

Ziggursky Penitentiary: Cell Block H

The shouting and gunfire rang through Baby's ears as she ran down the hallway from the cells. As she fled, she tried pieced together what was going on from the distant shouts and the lifeless bodies of prisoners and guards alike all around.

She'd heard one of the guards mention an Arachnos flier in the yard and another cry out with fear when all the cell doors in the block unlocked simultaneously.

The whole place was being rocked with explosions and she'd run through a couple of interior walls that were now nothing but debris. Were these Arachnos trying to bring the whole damn Zig down over our heads??

"Gun," Baby muttered, "I need a gun. Hell, anything would do."

She picked up a small chunk of rubble and tested its weight. Baby threw a couple of practise swings with the rock in her hand when someone called out to her.

"Hey, you!"

A security guard called out as he ran towards Danger Baby. She readied her rock in defence. She didn't exactly relax when she recognised the smiling face under the hat. He was carrying a heavy looking hold-all bag slung over one shoulder.

"Cruise," she said. "What are you doing here? And do you really think it's a good idea to still be wearing that outfit?"

"No worries sweetheart. Every crook in H-Block knows who I am. Besides, every crook in H is currently preoccupied with trying to leave H at this point in time. As you can probably tell by the bodycount around you, the party's moved on."

"[censored], I need to catch up to them!" Baby panicked. "I got separated and then lost my way and... Cruise, I need a gun!"

"I'll say you do."

Baby gave Cruise her very best expectant stare. Cruise raised an eyebrow, looked down at her outstretched palm, and considered for a moment if she was really being serious.

Finally he sighed and said frankly, "You have no idea how this works, do you kiddo?"

"What? Pistol said you were the guy-"

"Yeah well, me and Pistol have an arrangement, it's true. But Pistol was never anything less than polite to me. She respected what I have going on... had going on here. She's a businesswoman. I'm a businessman. There's profit in what we do together. You meanwhile are a-"

"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have disrespected you before," Baby could guess where this was going and she didn't like it. "But now I need your help! Will you help me?"

"See now that's what I'm wondering," Cruise said calmly. His cool, quiet demeanour was the exact opposite of Baby's. "You've insulted me, and you already turned down my offer once before. Now why should I do business with you? What's in it for me?"

"I'll give you anything!"

"Done!" Cruise said smugly. "You owe me one 'anything'. Don't forget it."

He took a revolver out of the hold-all and handed it to Baby.

"You know how to use it, don't you?"

"Yes, I've seen guns before," Baby said in a mock-patronising tone. Just never shot anyone, she added in thought. "Ammo?"

"It's got a full clip. Well then, have fun! Last I saw of Pistol, she was in the direction you were heading. The centre of the riot is that way too though, so watch out."

"Thanks a lot Cruise," Danger Baby as she broke into a run towards Pistol's location.

"Not a problem kiddo," Cruise broke out a wicked smile. "See you on the outside."


Written with permission from Captain_Cliche

((Cool beans. I'll hold off on posting for a little while then.

Captain, is that your real photo in your icon? And are those your real laser beams??))

I neglected to mention I'm a Robots/Dark MM so healing is not so much of an issue with Twilight Grasp and eventualy Fluffy too. I was thinking of picking up the single-target robo-heal power in the Robots primary too in case of emergenices.

I've already noticed the inconsistency with the Protector Bot's healing prowess - but as my Bot at least consistently bubbles up, I thought that would be a better bet for slotting.

Single-digit defence bonus for those bubbles? Really?? That's really disappointing. Once you get two Protectors, do their bubbles at least stack?

Disorient is a very nice idea, post-32. At this stage I'll probably go with that notion.

Good to know, thanks.

I'm planning on picking up the Leadership pool at some point, so I may drop an acc to 1 acc, 3 dam, 1 endrdx, 1 defbuff then (defbuff still seems a better thing to slot than heal).

Thanks! Okay then. I've now changed my screen name to what pretty much everyone calls me in-game anyhow

That is all.

You can do that? I may sort my screen name out then...

Nice name, btw

I'm mucking about with a Robots MM at the moment, and was wondering about the optimal slotting of Protector Bots.

In particular, does anyone know the defence numbers for their Force Shields?

Baby leaned back with surprise, but after looking Cruise up and down one more time she tutted and said, "Doesn't make him any less a creep. More, if anything."

She shrugged and turned from the corrupt prison officer at her door. With a resolute lack of interest in what he had to say, Baby rolled back onto her cot and left Pistol and Cruise to their plot.

Baby already knew what she had to do, and the first part of that was wait.

"Pig... pig, pig," Baby said gently, but in the same manner one might use if ever trapped in a lift with a suicidal manic, a jar of nitroglycerine and a bouncy castle. "I think you should get your ears checked out. Pistol was just asking me for some gum is all.

"Perhaps you should take more care when listening to private, whispered conversations in the future?

"What kind of pervert listens in on things that are no concern of his anyway? I make some sound on the john in the middle of the night, do you like to listen to that too?

"Now unless you have any Wrigleys, get lost creep!"

Baby looked Cruise up and down, sighed theatrically and turned over in her bed to ignore the prison officer.

Danger Baby was escorted back to cellblock H. She plodded along obediently in front of her escort, lost in her own world of self-pity.

"You been crying, Baby?" her neighbour Pistol called out as she passed her cell, but Baby didn't acknowledge her.

"Ha! Cry-Baby!" the guard, Watson smirked as he shoved her into cell 122.

Danger merely stared at him, she didn't have the energy anymore to hit him with a full glare like she had her lawyer. She felt drained, weak, and it showed.

"Ya not gonna talk to me?" Watson asked. "Not gonna question neither the size nor existence of mah pecker? How about the alleged promiscuity of mah rectal cavity? Heck gal, do mah feet smell?"

Baby rolled her eyes and turned away from him. She slumped onto her cot, face down.

"No? Not in the mood, are yah?" Watson went on. "You gals are all alike. Sure you like t'pretend yah'll tough. Like yah know exactly what it is yah doing, that this is what yah want. Free room an' board for a few months, this just a lil holiday for yah'll then it's back to breakin' stuff, stealin' stuff.

"But truth is, you are all just lil gals who ain't grown up yet. You didn' learn how to behave like a civilised woman, then yah did somethin' wrong an' this is yah punishment, an' you know it. So now yah'll takin' it on the chin like you s'pose a real woman would handle it, all wilful with dignity an' indignation.

"But it's all an act! You ain't grown up an' when the mood don' strike you to act like how yah remember yah seen a lady behave, yah just a dumb brattish lil girl who got herself in trouble an' is feelin' reeeaaal sorry for herself! Just a sobbin' lil Cry-Baby! Am I right or not?"

Baby responded by throwing her stale pillow blindly at the door.

"Suit yourself, lil'un," Watson laughed.

"I think you've said enough, Earl," Pistol chimed in. Like every other female prisoner in the block, she'd heard the whole thing and was staring intently at Watson through the bars of her cell door.

"Don' you worry sweetheart, ah was jus' leavin'. Don' wanna end up like poor Harry in any case."

"For what it's worth," Pistol smiled, "he had a really great time."

"Ah'll bet."

Watson turned and walked away, blissfully ignorant of the great big bull's-eye his own words had drawn on his back.

Pistol knocked on the wall between her cell and Danger's.

"You okay girl? Don't pay any attention to Earl. If he was anything of a criminal psychologist... he wouldn't be a prison guard now would he?"

"I'm not okay Pistol," Baby said finally. "They upped my sentence to ten months, and I don't even get to appeal."

"Aw Baby, that's no big deal."

"No big deal?" Baby cried out, "I was gonna be out in two months, maybe even one month! It didn't seem that long, now it's gonna take forever! I just want out! Out... I'm never gonna get out of here!"

"I wouldn't say never," Pistol said knowingly.

It took a few seconds to sink in. Danger leapt from her cot and pressed her ear up against the wall.

She blurted in hushed tones, "Wait, you know something? Something's happening?? Take me with you!!"

Pistol giggled and replied calmly, "Be patient girl. Sit quiet. When the moment comes - and you couldn't miss it, I promise you - all you need do is grab yourself a gun, then come find me."

(written with Pious' permission)

"You? You're my visitor?" Danger Baby sat at the worn desk opposite a man in a black suit. "Where's Carlito?"

The elderly gent adjusted his spectacles and coughed before speaking up, "Your... friend isn't visiting you today, Miss Kim. I am. I have some news regarding your custodial sentence."

"Good news?" Baby asked, but her body language said she didn't think it would be. "Am I getting out soon?"

The lawyer laid his briefcase on the table and rested his hands on it. "No it's not good news, I'm afraid. Your original sentence of three months has been extended... *ahem* to ten months."

"What!?" she hissed, her knuckles whitened. "What the hell??"

"It seems that when Dr Pulman diagnosed your mutant genes and informed the board, steps were taken to... re-evaluate the potential... potential danger you posed to society. Being a superpowered criminal automatically carries longer prison terms than normal... *ahem* people, so the duration of your sentence here has been adjusted to the minimum custodial sentence for your crimes and abilities. I'm very sorry."

"But... I wasn't a mutant when I came in here!" Baby stammered. "They just didn't know what was wrong with me! They made me Threat Level 1 and then poked and prodded me until they found a reason why!! This isn't fair!"

She pounded the table with her fist and then doubled up in pain, "Aw [censored]..."

Droplets of tears fell on to the table, and burned off the cheap varnish where they hit.

"Miss Kim, Liz, you know it doesn't work that way. You don't suddenly become a mutant, you were born one. As such, the courts changed your sentence in light of new evidence. It may seem unfair now, but this is the correct custodial punishment for your crimes."

Baby looked up at the lawyer again, sobbing. He was startled by her eyes, their lids scorched pink by her tears.

She sniffed and asked, "Can't we do anything? Can we appeal?"

"I'm afraid not, Liz. Even with good behaviour you're likely to serve at least seven months."

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Baby sulked.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you something more posi-"

"Get lost," Baby interrupted him with a wicked glare.

The lawyer cowed under her gaze, hurriedly picked up his briefcase and left without another word. Danger Baby sat and stared aimlessly into space, her hands resting on her troubled stomach.

Thanks No. 2!

I honeslty have no idea - at the moment (in between Pratorian missions with Echo still) I'm just spinning my wheels between a Robot/Dark MM and a FF/En Defender, mostly. But my altisis is immeasurable, and I have a lot of fun characters I need to use more! After Issue 7 hits, I'll be rolling up a WS and a Thugs MM too!

Thanks again guys

Here's a photo of the guys who witnessed the ding, taken at the location I chose to train up for the last time. Others helped out during the course of the evening and people came and went, so there are more people to thank than the peeps in this photo. Anyway, left to right: Miss Directed, Lord Fulcrum, Echo Taker, War Witch, Mirage Maiden, Scout Shine, Knight-Blaster and MEDI-BOT II.

...and I enjoy dishing out the SB-goodness, so I'm not quite done with Echo yet

Thanks guys!

Special thanks to Miss Sparkz, Hawaiin Punch, Miss Directed, Doc Illusion, Sunrod, Mirage Maiden (I can never remember all your globals!) and all the rest for allowing me to team with you up to 50.

I'm sorry that most of you couldn't make it on the night, but it turned out pretty good anyway - a lot of my SG mates, (new and old) turned up to fill out the ranks so it was still a bit of an occasion. Thanks to everyone who showed up (though I know a lot of them don't browse this forum, but hey).

I was mildly annoyed when we plowed through the missions with Chimera and Nemesis? and I didn't ding on either of them. With time short, in the end we went into the slaughterhouse that is dimension Psi 20-7 and just took out wave after wave of PPs until I hit 50 - which turned out to be a whole lot more crazy and fun than an AV anyway!

Grats Sunrod! Sorry I missed it